About Paulo Salazar

Paulo comes to us from San Antonio, Texas. He graduated from Mississippi State University in 2007 and loves his MSU Bulldogs. Paulo has been with WCBI News over four years and curerently serves as the Weekend Anchor and weekly reporter. To contact him feel free to email him at paulosalazar@wcbi.com or follow him on twitter @paulosalazar34.

LOWNDES COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – Ask anybody who is looking for work, the job market is more competitive than ever. Many are heading back to school, in hopes of landing a good paying job.

It’s getting harder and harder to find work in Mississippi without the proper qualifications. Many are turning to EMCC to pick up those skills.

Enrollment is up at East Mississippi Community College. Non traditional students like Stevie Moody hope to change careers, after spending years doing jobs that just don’t exist anymore.

Stevie Moody a Veteran looking for work says, “Right now it’s really tough. We do have a lot of jobs that are coming into our area so it’s best to educate yourself so you can get one of those good jobs.”

With agressive developers comes big industry. The Golden Triangle has seen it’s fair share of industrial growth. With the addition of Severstal, Paccar, American Eurocopter among others, the jobs are here. Setting yourself up for success is half the battle.

Moody says, “With the job industry growing a lot of plants are coming to Columbus I decided to come back and get some manufacturing skills to help better myself and land a better job.”

EMCC is just one of the places people are turning to become more marketable. In the global economy, business models are evolving at the speed of technology. Specialized skills are a must. Robotics and other space age technologies are improving efficiency at the cost of jobs.

Some may remember The Jetsons, what was futuristic is now reality. For those looking for work Moody has a piece of advice.

According to Moody, “Get up, educate yourself and get out there you will find a job.”